Add clickable buttons to a custom DataGridViewCell control - vb.net

Question

I made a custom DataGridViewColumn control together with its DataGridViewCell controls.
The idea is to dynamically create the contents of the cell, which consists of a series of clickable function buttons, upon databinding. The number and kinds of buttons depend on the data value passed.
For this, I override the Paint method of the DataGridViewCell and check the formattedValue on its contents and draw buttons accordingly. However, these buttons are "dead" and not clickable, so the question is how to make them clickable, i.e. how do I add a handler for the click event?
Do I have to override the cell's OnClick method and then try to pinpoint which button exactly is clicked? Is this even possible? Are there better ways?
This is what I've got so far:
Protected Overrides Sub Paint(graphics As Graphics, clipBounds As Rectangle, cellBounds As Rectangle, rowIndex As Integer, cellState As DataGridViewElementStates, value As Object, formattedValue As Object, errorText As String, cellStyle As DataGridViewCellStyle, advancedBorderStyle As DataGridViewAdvancedBorderStyle, paintParts As DataGridViewPaintParts)
MyBase.Paint(graphics, clipBounds, cellBounds, rowIndex, cellState, value, formattedValue, errorText, cellStyle, advancedBorderStyle, paintParts)
Dim cellBackground As New SolidBrush(cellStyle.BackColor)
graphics.FillRectangle(cellBackground, cellBounds)
cellBackground.Dispose()
PaintBorder(graphics, clipBounds, cellBounds, cellStyle, advancedBorderStyle)
Dim sValue As String = formattedValue.ToString()
If (sValue.Contains("ViewAsPDF")) Then
Dim buttonArea As Rectangle = cellBounds
Dim buttonAdjustment As Rectangle = Me.BorderWidths(advancedBorderStyle)
buttonArea.X += buttonAdjustment.X
buttonArea.Y += buttonAdjustment.Y
buttonArea.Height -= buttonAdjustment.Height
buttonArea.Width -= buttonAdjustment.Width
buttonArea.Width = buttonArea.Width / 4
ButtonRenderer.DrawButton(graphics, buttonArea, PushButtonState.Default)
TextRenderer.DrawText(graphics, "PDF", Me.DataGridView.Font, buttonArea, SystemColors.ControlText)
End If
'etcetera
End Sub

Answer 1

I think you may have wandered down the wrong road. Based on the code provided, you are simply drawing the cells to look like they contain buttons. Since they are not actually objects, they are incapable of raising events.
I don't understand ButtonRenderer, if you can't create actual Buttons with it
The ButtonRender does not create a new button object, it is meant to be used by Button objects for drawing. Often a subclassed a button, will not use it because it employs the existing theme and style which is may be what a you wants to do differently (even the DataGridViewButtonCell does not use it -- at least not directly).
From the code provided, it seems to work out each button on the fly each time rather than drawing from some collection or definition. What if the "action" list needs to vary based on the row (e.g. different actions for a DOC, XLS or Image row)? Doing so, would seem to take a great deal of code.
Your current course may not be impossible, but it is not trivial either. You might be able to create a collection of virtual buttons (basically the Rect from when it was drawn) and render them as you have done. Then in the cell-click event, translate/adjust the X position to see which rectangle contains thisPt.X to determine which related action to take.
There are "issues" still such as what happens when the user resizes the column? What about when the button list varies by some other cell value (DOC vs XLS vs IMG vs PDF)? This would require a collection of button sets...and a fair amount of code.
This is not to say it cant be done, but it seems like a great deal of code would be required to make it even a little flexible.
Are there better ways?
I think so.
A simpler, existing solution might be to use the existing DataGridViewComboBoxColumn to store "Actions" or "Activities". It seems a bit less cluttered and more user friendly:
It takes only a small amount of code to provide a different list for each animal:
' dogs like to go for walks
Private ActsCan() As String = {"Feed", "Pet", "Bathe", "Brush", "Take for Walk"}
' no walks or baths for cats
Private ActsFel() As String = {"Feed", "Pet", "Baby-Talk To", "Brush"}
' never bathe a Mugwai, comb rather than brush
Private ActsMug() As String = {"Feed", "Pet", "Baby-Talk To", "Comb"}
Private ActsGrem() As String = {"Hide From", "Strangle"}
...
Private Sub dgv_RowEnter(sender As Object,
e As DataGridViewCellEventArgs) Handles dgv.RowEnter
Dim dgvCBO As DataGridViewComboBoxCell
dgvCBO = CType(dgv.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells("ColActs"), DataGridViewComboBoxCell)
dgvCBO.Items.Clear()
Select Case dgv.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells("colSpecies").Value.ToString
Case "Canine"
dgvCBO.Items.AddRange(ActsCan)
Case "Feline"
dgvCBO.Items.AddRange(ActsFel)
Case "Mugwai"
dgvCBO.Items.AddRange(ActsMug)
Case "Gremlin"
dgvCBO.Items.AddRange(ActsGrem)
End Select
End Sub
A class to encapsulate most of that might be nice for unbound DGVs. It could be optimized not to rebuild the list when the trigger value for thisRow is the same as the last.

Answer 2

What about this approach. Only implementing the ui.